Fergie Takes A Break From Black Eyed Peas To Focus On Solo Career

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UPDATE: A spokesperson for Fergie tells Billboard that reports of her split with the Black Eyed Peas are not accurate. “Fergie is still in the Black Eyed Peas and has an enormous amount of love for her brothers,” said the spokesperson. “However, she’s currently focusing on her solo record in partnership with BMG and she’s incredibly excited for her fans to hear her new music.”

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The Black Eyed Peas have bid farewell to their leading lady. Will.i.am officially announced Fergie’s departure from the group in a statement on Thursday (June 1).

“Since the beginning of Black Eyed Peas, we’ve always had amazing vocalists that appeared on the mic with us,” he explained. “People like Macy Gray, Esthero, Debi Nova, Fergie. On Elephunk, there were several females that appeared on that album. Obviously Fergie was the featured female, but on songs like ‘Let’s Get it Started,’ it’s Noelle [Scaggs], and then Fergie, songs like ‘Latin Girls,’ it’s Debi Nova, and ‘Request Line,’ it’s Macy Gray. We’ll always work with good females.”

However, the BEP frontman stated that they aren’t replacing their longtime bandmate. “She’s working on her solo project at the moment, we’re on this brand-new experience, celebrating 20 years of Black Eyed Peas putting out music,” says Will. “We worked on a bunch of songs on her solo record, we’re proud that she has her label, but Black Eyed Peas are pushing it forward in terms of content, technology and experiences on our new [graphic novel] project, Masters of the Sun — The Zombie Chronicles.”

Over the last 6 months rumors have been circling around her departure from the crew with the news about a new solo album serving at the nail in the coffin. Fergie recently launched her own record label Dutchess Music, and plans to release her project, Double Dutchess, this summer.

Nicole Scherzinger’s name has been thrown into the mix as an alleged addition to the group, but will.i.am would only confirm her as a guest on the next Black Eyed Peas project.